The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1887-03-26
Boarding House to Court.
Missouri Republican.

/ "a R~A ROSS'
Boarding House 10 Court.
Missouri Republican.
"This is indeed a peculiar world"
said mining expert at the Plan
ter's House yesterday. Here l
pick up the papers and read of
Mrs. Mackay's doings in Paris
how she receives the scions of roy
atty, how she entertains, how she
appears at the opera, how she
dresses, and how she does thou
sand other things; and then l can
scarcely conceive that eighteen
years ago she kept boarding house
in Virginia City, and that l was
one of her boarders. Yet it is true,
and l often ponder over it. She
was a young widow then, with an
interesting child, who has since
matured into a young lady and was
recently married to an Italian
prince of some kind. That little
girl has often sat on my knee with
little tin can in her hand which
contained the contributions of her
admirers. In those days we lived
principally on canned food, and
Mrs. Mackay's back yard was paved
with tin cans. The child had Sc
lected a very pretty can which one
of the boarders transformed into a
little bank. This was partly filled
with coin, the result of a tribute
which she levied on her friends.
She would climb on the boarders'
knees. and, shaking her little bank,
would say: Is you lucky to-dayY
This query had the desired effect,
and the bank receipts were in
creased. Even in her days of dis
tress Mrs. Mackay was good wo-
man. She personally superintend-
ed affairs and made her boarders as
comfortable as possible. | was
then a superintendent under Fair,
and Mackay was already million
aire. Mining stock was the rage
then, and remembered often how
she would come to me and some of
the other boarders and ask our adj
vice about certain stocks, and | am
happy to say that the advice | gave
her was good, and if l had taken it
myself l would now be $5,OOO,OOO
or $6,O0O,OOO better off than l am.
"Then Mackay took a shine to
the widow, and being reputed one
of the wealthiest men in the camp,
he found smooth sailing. He
couldn't win on his shape nor his
beauty, for everybody who has seen
Mackay knows that he. wouldn't
take prize in a congress of beauty.
They were married, and the little
girl no longer sat on miners knees,
and mammals delicate hand no
longer placed corned beef and cab
base on the miners plates. They
rose faster than Sheridan stock did
last summer, the only difference
being that their rise was backed by
hard coin. The great Comstock
lode continued to put forth its rich
ness, and Mackay and his partner
became immensely wealthy. AL
though reared in poor circum-
stances, Mrs. Mackay showed her
good sense by securing a private
tutor, by whom she was drilled and
educated for five years. The little
daughter was put through the same
course and fitted to shine in the
most cultured society of the Old
World. Then came the conquests
in New York, San Francisco and
finally the trips to Europe. A year
ago l was in Paris, and one evening
attended a performance at the
Grand Opera House. 1t was a
first night, and prominent in pri-
vate box were two ladies, bedecked
with diamonds and festooned with
flowers. They were the cynosure
ofall eyes, and, levelling my glasses,
/ discovered behind the silks, flow
ers, and diamonds the face of my
former landlady in Virginia City.
The outlines were the same, but
time had wrought its changes. The
young lady with her was the little
girl who used to play on my knee.
She had grown out of my recollec-
ton. AS l stood looking at them
midst the flashing lights, the in
cense of flowers, and the delicious
music, l could not help recalling
something of
Some one who breasted high water,
Swan the North Fork, and all that tier,
Just to dance with old Follansbce's daugh
The lily of Poverty Flat